Compressed-air brake for railways.



No. 715,585. Patented Dec. 9; |9021' 'conPnEssEn Am BRAKE Fon nAlLwAAYs.(A'pplicnton led Oct. 7, 1952.)

UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

LEON KIRCHNER, oEMULHoUSE, GERMANY, AssIeNoR on oNE-HALE To JOHANNESHANDSCIIIN, on RASEE, SWITZERLAND.

COMPRSSED-AIR BRAKE FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,585, dated December9, 190?.

Application iiled October 7, 1902.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, LON KIRCHNER, a subject of the Emperor of Germany,and a resident of Mulhouse, Alsace, Germany, have invented new anduseful Improvements in Compressed-Air Brakes for Railways, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact specification.

As is well known,compressedair brakes allow the pressure in thebrake-cylinders to be gradually raised by means of a gradual servicebraking until the pressure stored up in the auxiliary air-reservoirs isexhaustedthat is to say, until the pressure in these latter and in thebrake-cylinders become equal. Now it is of considerable importance forthe engine-driver to know the degree of exhaustion of this pressurestore, and especially when the pressure in the auxiliary air-reservoirsand in the brake cylinders becomes equalthat is to say, when the brakesare applied with full forceso as not to let escape further compressedair out of the train-pipe uselessly, and to be able, if necessary, tocause the stopping of the train by strewing sand and reversing steam. Togive notice of this to the engine-driver is the object of the presentinvention. According to it a differential elastic-tube manometer ispermanently connected to an auxiliary air-reservoir by one of itselastic tubes connected to the indicator mechanism and by the otherelastic tube to the corresponding brake-cylinder with interposition ofthe brake operating valve, and this valve is so arranged that onordinary1 service braking it allows the air to pass from thebrake-cylinder to the manometer in order to indicate the difference ofpressure between the auxiliary air-reservoir and the brake-cylinder.Should this difference of pressure become zero, which, as alreadymentioned, happens when the full service application of the brakes iseffected, the indicator mechanism points to zero, thereby showing theenginedriver that the pressure storein the auxiliary air-reservoirsintended for the service braking is entirely used up.

The accompanying drawings represent an embodiment of the object of thisinvention Serial No. 126,307. (No model.)

in connection with an air-brake of theWestinghouse type in as far as itis necessary for the comprehension of this invention.

Figures l and 2 show the differential elastictube manometer. Fig. 3shows this manometer in connection with an auxiliary air-reservoir, thecorresponding brake-cylinder, and the brakeoperating valve. Figs. 4 and5 illustrate the brake-operating valve, Fig. 4

being an under side view of its rotary valve and Fig. 5 a top view ofthe guide-face of this latter.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the screwplug a carries the frame orcasing b of the manometer and is also formed with two separate passagesc d, to which are connected, respectively, the elastic tubes e f of thepressure-gage. These tubes are securedat their upper ends by means oflinks to a two-armed lever g, which is in connection, by means of thetoothed sector h, pivoted at fn, and the toothed wheel t', with theindicator-spindle c. The spindle lo carries the pointer m, which ismovable over a dial.

As will be seen in Fig. 3, the passage c of the pressure-gage ispermanently in connection by the tube 2 with the auxiliary air-reservoirs, and the passage d, by means of the tube 4,with the brake-operatingvalve t, which is itself in connection, by atube 6, with thebrake-cylinder u on the auxiliary air-reservoir s. The connection of thetubes 4 6 to the brake-operating valve is best shown by Fig. 5. The tube4 is connected to apassage 8 of the body of the brake-operating valve,and this passage to a channel 9, which opens at 10 to the guide-face 12of the rotary valve ofthe brake-operating valve. On the other hand, thetube 6 is joined to a passage 11, which opens at 13 also to the saidguide-face 12. The rotary valve 16, Fig. 4, is provided on its underside with three notches 17 14 15, intended to allow the communicationbetween the apertures 10 and 13 in three principal positions of saidrotary valve. Apart from these notches, openings, and passages therotary valve and its guide-face have the usual construction. In order toshow more clearly which are the notches and openings that have beenadded in the invention to the usual passages of the brake-operatingvalve, they have been pointed out by hatching. Fig. 5 shows also thetive principal positions well known of the brake-operating valve-that isto say, of its operating-lever o-viz., the positions for filling, (1,)for running, (lI,) for closing, (IIL) for ordinary service braking,(IV,) and for emergency braking, (V.)

The described apparatus of the invention operates as follows: In thefilling position of the brake-operating valve (position I, Fig. 5) theapertures 10 13 communicate with each other by means of the notch 15,and in the running position II through the notch 14:. Therefore in thesetwo positions the tube 4E that is to say, the channel d of themanometer-is put into communication with the tube 6, itself connectedwith the back end of the brake-cylinder, and thus with the air-outlet1S, Fig. 3, of the triple Valve of the auxiliary air-reservoir s, andthe pipe 4 is under atmospheric pressure. The degree of the pressurestore in the auxiliary air-reservoir can thus be seen on the manometer.By closing the brake-operating valve (position III) the aforesaidcommunication is cut off. In the position IV-that is to say, when anordinary service braking is being effected-the same communication takesplace between the apertures 10 and 13 of the guide-face 12 through thenotch 17 of the rotary valve, while the communication of thebrake-cylinder with the air-outlet or escape-opening 18 is now out off.Therefore some of the compressed air in the brake-cylinder iiows alsointo the channel d of the manometer, and this latter shows thus thedifference of pressure in the auxiliary airreservoir and in thebrake-cylinder and informs in this manner the engine-driver as to thedegree of pressure store still left in the auxiliary air-reservoir. lfafter a first ordinary service braking has taken place there will beletstill Vmore compressed air out of the train-pipe to effect a strongerapplication of the brakes, the pressure in the auxiliary airreservoir isdecreased and the pressure in the brake-cylinder rises, so that thedifference of pressure between these two capacities becomes smalleruntil at last the pressures become equal, when full service braking isreached and the pointer of the pressure-gage moves to zero. Since theengine-driver has always to observe the manometer during the brakingoperation, he will immediately perceive when the pressures are equalizedand know thereby that the pressure store in the auxiliary air-reservoiris exhausted and any further escape of compressed air out of thetrain-pipe useless. He can then move the brake-valve lever /U to itsclosing position. On an emergency braking (position V) the communicationbetween the brake-cylinder and the manometer is interrupted, so that thesudden great change of pressure cannot injuriously affect thesensitiveuess of the manometer. When the brake-valve lever o is put backto the filling position I, the tube 4 communicates through the notch 15with the tube 6, and the compressed air still left in the channel CZ andin the tube fof the manometer escapes through the leakage or outletopening 18 into the outer atmosphere.

What I claim is- 1. In compressed-air brakes for railways, thecombination with an auxiliary air-reservoir and its brake-cylinder of adifferential elastic-tube manometer permanently connected by one of itselastic tubes with the said auxiliary air-reservoir and means controlledby the brake-operating valve for connecting the other manometer-tube tothe brake-cylinder on an ordinary service braking so as to indicate thenthe difference or equality of pressure both in the auxiliaryair-reservoir and in the brake-cylinder, substantially as set forth.

2. In compressed-air brakes for railways, the combination with anauxiliary air-reservoir and its brake-cylinder of a dilerentialelastic-tube manometerpermanently connected by one of its elastic tubeswith the said auxiliary air reservoir, a brake -operating valve joinedon the one hand to the other manometer-tube and on the other hand to thebrake-cylinder and means upon said brakeoperating valve for completingthe connection between this latter manometer-tube and the brake-cylinderwhen an ordinary service braking is brought about, so as to indicatethen the difference or equality of pressure both in the auxiliaryair-reservoir and in the brake-cylinder, substantially as described.

3. In compressed-air brakes for railways, the combination with anauxiliary air-reservoir and its brake-cylinder of adilerentialelastic-tube manometer permanently connected by one of its elastic tubeswith the said auxiliary air-reservoir, means controlled by thebrake-operating valve forconnecting the other manometer-tube to thebrake-cylinder on an ordinary service braking so as to indicate then thedierence or equality of pressure both in the auxiliary air-reservoirYand in the brake-cylinder, and means controlled by the brake -operatingvalve for allowing communication when the brake valve is in the fillingand running position, substantially as described.

4. In compressed-air brakes for railways, the combination with anauxiliary air-reservoir and its brake-cylinder of a differentialelastic-tube manometer permanently connected by one of its elastic tubeswith the said auxiliary air-reservoir, means controlled by thebrake-operating valve for connecting the other manometer-tube to thebrake-cylinder on an ordinary service braking so as to indicate then thedifference or equality of pressure both in the auxiliary air-reservoirand IOO in the brake-cylinder', and means upon said my name inthepresence of two subscribing brake operating Valve itself for allowingWitnesses.

communication between lshe latter manomef rer-tube and an air-escapeopening When the LEON KIRCHNER' 5 brake-valve is in lLhe lling andrunning po- Witnesses:

siton, substantially as set forth. AMAND BRAUN,

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed GEORGE GIFFORD.

